Saturday, October 5, 2013

Ten Things of Thankful: Week 18

So…this week-end I am completely unavailable (try not to cry too much when you don't see any comments from me until next week...I promise I'll get to it, but not as quickly as usual!) I am serving at
a Women’s Retreat (The Great Banquet…have you heard of it?); I actually left
on Thursday afternoon and will return home Sunday night.

I hope Christine remembers to link me up, but if not and you
notice that I’m not linked, please feel free to help a girl out.

And with that, I quickly (well, I wrote it kind of quickly…time being a precious commodity this week
and all) but it may not read quickly.

With that, we are off:

1. I am thankful (again) for my steam mop. I’ve written about
it at least once, if not more than once. Who wouldn’t be thankful for a steam
mop? I guess someone who doesn’t have floors…so I’m thankful for the floors
too.

2. I am thankful for Saturday morning cleaning times when
everyone pitches in to help…and I am so glad that I am not in a marriage in
which my husband expects me to do all the cooking and cleaning and everything
around the house, plus shuttle the kids to and fro their activities. And also
homeschool the PBA. That arrangement works for some couples and that is
fantastic…but it wouldn’t work for this one. Just sayin’.

3. I am thankful that the boys are learning how to clean and be
self-sufficient. (They’re not quite ready to be launched, but we are creeping
toward the finish line; I know it will be here before I am ready!)

4. I am thankful that I can go away for a week-end and know
that all my “boys” will be ok…although it does make me feel like I’m not
needed. But I did leave an itinerary for them, as well as a fridge stocked with
food and a schedule for each day. (Maybe they are not as self-sufficient as I
thought and do kind of need me.)

5. Shock of all shocks…last Saturday night we stopped on the way
home from my 12yo's soccer game and picked up some donuts for the next morning. We bought ½
dozen donuts, as did my dad…but my dad’s total was about $1 more than ours. But
the men didn’t discover this fact until we were back on the road.

And then to make matters worse, when we got home and opened
the bag to put the donuts in a more air-tight container than the wax-paper bag provided by the donut shop, we discovered why our total was less: we only had 5
donuts. And the donut we were missing was one of the two which the 10yo had chosen.
We went ahead and told him that night so as to avoid the weeping and gnashing
of teeth on Sunday morning, as we were preparing to go to church.

And here’s the thankfulness part: on Sunday morning, my 12yo
offered to split one of his two donuts so that each of them would have 1 ½
donuts. WOW! Growth! Maturity! Thoughtfulness! And from my child toward his
brother. All kinds of thankful.

6. I am thankful that when I have conversations in my head
(or I replay conversations in my head) that Mr. Always Random doesn’t even pay
attention and makes no comment. How would he know what’s going on in my head and thus be able to comment?
Because sometimes I actually speak out loud or my facial expressions show what
I’m thinking. Yes, I will make facial expressions to go along with thoughts I’m
having. Apparently I wouldn’t be very good at Poker (or any card game for that
matter).

7. I am thankful for
the rainy & overcast day last Sunday, which allowed the slacker in me to
kind of laze around and not feel too guilty about it.

8. I am thankful that one day this week, I asked my 12yo to
fold some laundry while he was waiting for his brother and I to finish science
so that we could all move on together with another subject. He obliged without even so
much as an eye-roll. And THEN he proceeded to deliver all the folded laundry to
the respective owners and/or locations (napkins to the kitchen, etc…and yes, we
use cloth napkins. We are so high-brow.)

9. I am thankful that
my 12yo is at least considering playing basketball. For the past two winters,
he has been on the fence and never got off it in time to get signed up. This
year, again, he’s on the fence. But here’s the thankfulness part: his brother
(you know…the 10yo) has been telling him what a great player he is and how all
these other people think he’s great and that he should “totally play”. Wow…it’s
kind of like he’s encouraging him…who knew that could happen?

10. I am thankful
that I am finished with this list…I haven’t missed a hop yet and I wasn’t going
to let being completely unavailable for 4 days keep me out of the loop.

16 comments:

Ack! Don't worry - I found you freezing out here in the margins of the Blogosphere and brought you home into the link-up. I got your back :)

Sounds like the way your boys are going, you are doing some SERIOUSLY good work on behalf of your DILs - I am very impressed by their willingness to help, their generosity of spirit and the way they pitch in. You are going to be one helluva MIL one day :)

I just want to go on record as saying, "I DID NOT FORGET TO LINK HER UP!!" We left the house at 7:30 this morning, which was 30 minutes before her post went live. I did not return home until 3 in the afternoon. I immediately went to my computer to find she was already linked. Huh. Do I sound a bit too defensive? :)

All I know's I saw her post ('her' being your supposed bff) adrift in my blog feed, with no linked-upness, and this glorious post of thankful just stagnating on its own, with no love or affection being shown for it at all.

WOW! So...thanks for the link-up, Lizzi. :) I appreciate you finding me in the margins of the blogosphere. :)

Christine...sorry it was scheduled later than I meant. I knew you'd have soccer on Saturday and meant to make it for earlier. So sorry to cause you undue stress and strife. I know you're my BFF :) No worries...

Thanks...I don't know that it's all about me, but it did make me happy: wow, they CAN treat one another like human beings! The best part is that my 10yo usually icks his food so the 12yo won't take it. So for the 12yo to offer such grace is truly amazing to me. God can work on hearts...and my boys are proof of that!

They are growing up to be such nice almost young men. All sorts of things those boys did to be kind. I'm wondering...Do they read these thankful posts? Perhaps they are trying to see who can be in more of the thankful points? Not saying it's a bad thing. I'm wondering if I should start a little contest at my house. :)Hope your retreat is going well. I wish I could have joined you.

I am on the outs with my steam mop. It is acting up and not steaming, which is the ONE THING IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DO. Since repair men went the way of the dinosaur, I may be stuck with a $120 sculpture. Not. Happy.

I cannot tell you how impressed I am that one of your sons offered to share his doughnut with the other son. That would not happen at my house, as everyone here is a doughnut hog. My daughter has been known to lick the ones she claims (and note that I say "ones" as in plural. 6 doughnuts for my family? Pah!). And my son has to weigh whether or not it's worth the risk of her cooties to steal her doughnuts and eat them. Fun times!

Sorry to hear about your steam mop...have you tried laying hands on it? Sometimes that works....although it's not always the way God likes to show off, he's done it for me in the past. :)

Yes, donuts...it's funny you say that because I just replied up above to Lisa that my 10yo usually licks his food so the 12yo won't take it. And then here it was that the 12yo was offering his food to the 10yo. I hope the 10yo was at least a little convicted. Even if he was, he'd never admit it. In fact, he licked his bread at dinner just this evening. So...clearly he's a work in progress. Aren't we all?

Random Stuff About Me

I will be fostering (hence the blog name…see what I did there? No, not just a clever name b/c I am a foster care advocate; this technique is called a double-entendre…look at me teaching so much already. Perhaps I under-estimated myself and my educational abilities...) the woman I feel God has meant me to be: a writer, a sharer, a story-teller, a friend, a listener, a prayer-warrior and lots of other hopefully-funny, silly, and crazy things.